Are SIM scores predicting sink or swim for those within the water industry?

It’s not just the global weather causing a storm of reactions this week.

The BBC today reported that the number of phone complaints to UK water companies to resolve water issues, went up by more than 40,000, although the written complaint numbers fell by 11% to less than 100,000.

The complaints body, the Consumer Council for Water that conducted the research, says that the water industry needs to work harder to improve. However, the UK Institute of Customer Service reports that the utility sector had the most improved customer satisfaction scores above any other industry in the UK. The UK Customer Satisfaction Index shows that customers are more satisfied with the utilities sector than they have been in over nine years. And water organisations scored higher than energy businesses.

Service Incentive Mechanism (SIM) scores introduced by Ofwat, to provide a robust comparable measure of consumers’ experience and how satisfied they are with the overall handling of their recent contact with their supplier, are an interesting read, especially when dealing with complaints. It states that customers tended to be significantly more satisfied with the handling of billing enquiries than either clean or waste water queries and that customers who contacted their water company online were more positive than those using other channels, particularly letter or email.

Why is it then that the picture looks a little skewed? What’s really happening within the water industry? Is it merely a case of ‘good news doesn’t sell so well’ or is there something more to it?

Delivering a high quality round-the-clock customer service isn’t easy within any industry. Customers expect to contact companies when they want and through a channel of their choice. The water industry faces another challenge though. Water supply and sanitation has been a primary logistical challenge since the dawn of civilisation. However, how many of us – there are 66, 269 374 people currently living in the UK – spare a thought to the privilege of sanitation and fresh water before we open a tap or flush?

Most of the 18 water suppliers in the UK have invested in technology across new channels to help address customer queries in optimal time. Yorkshire Water pointed out that not all customer calls are complaints, and that it recently introduced a call-back service where customers can book 10-minute-long appointment slots instead of waiting on hold, or can contact the company over Facebook or Twitter.

With comments on the BBC article drowning water companies in more bad light, what considerations could be made to enhance their customer service delivery strategy?

Technology in place to support contact centre staff:

• Will customers calling out-of-hours receive a poorer quality of customer service and is there another channel by which they could answer their queries?
• Are all contact centre staff up-to-date with the latest information and how is this maintained through technology?
• When staff shifts change, does it affect the transfer of knowledge – how is this communicated?

Out of office customer enquiries:

•  Should phone lines only be open 8 hours per day – are customers able to self-serve answers to their questions quickly and easily through the website or other channels?

The most effective/popular/convenient contact channels for customers:

• The contact centre is only one contact channel available for customers – dependent on the nature of the enquiry, would it benefit the company and customers to handle enquiries across other channels like live chat, a virtual agent/chatbot or social platforms?

Customer feedback and complaints:

• Quickly and efficiently responding across contact channels to customer queries is key – is there a mechanism in place to monitor customer feedback to improve the quality of products and services and level of response in the future?
• Ofwat scores satisfaction high if a customer’s query is resolved or not considered to be a complaint.

Customers are exercising their power to switch to competitors when they are not happy with the service they receive, however unless you’re a business customer, switching your water and/or sewerage supplier is not yet possible. However, it is good to know that water companies are taking customer service seriously and are making efforts to improve.

Synthetix has collaborated with the trusted brand Wiley to share some insights into multi-channel online customer service delivery in the mission to deliver omni-channel customer experiences.

Customers vote with their wallets

Customer Experience manifesto

2017 is not quite half way and already this year has many of us concerned about what the future might hold after the UK general election. The volatile political events of 2016 appear to have dominoed into 2017, which has left many UK businesses in limbo – not wanting to make any drastic changes to processes or investing in new technologies – waiting to see the what impact the election results might have on the future of their business.

Another dominating topic in 2017 is AI. Like political ructions, new technology can create fear, uncertainty, and doubt, until we understand it better. But unlike politics, were we can choose who we support, or whether to cast or vote or not, we are parading inescapably into a new generation of digitally enabled customer experiences and there is no turning back. Waiting to invest in new customer engagement technology, could put you well behind the curve competing in a digital future.

Fake News

Some leading organisations are already masters in this new world, already using AI to great effect or actively planning for it. But most organisations still find it difficult to imagine how AI with its hype and science fiction drama can bridge the gaps between a customer’s diverse interaction points to help improve their journey and experience with services and answers they need.

If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you understand that consistently satisfying customer service is increasingly important as customer expectations are adapting and growing just as rapidly as the channels and technology consumers are now empowered to engage with.

Being open to new paths of communication, such as Virtual Agent technology, can up the personalisation and customer engagement stakes. Unlike the uncertain outcome of the UK general election and its repercussions, Virtual Agents, when deployed correctly, with a set of specific goals, can generate leads, increase sales, and grow a business in a big way, and this is only the beginning. However, just because Virtual Agents are part of the hottest topic of 2017, this does not necessarily mean it will be the right fit for everyone.

Polls

Self-service has become the long-term solution to meeting customer expectations. In a global report, ‘The Self-service Economy’, 70% of consumers expect a self-service option for handling commercial questions and complaints. And millennials especially expect companies to keep improving their levels of service, expecting everything to be just a click away – their social relationships, their retail relationships, even their banking and insurance relationships.

This isn’t a manifesto to try to convince you to invest in Virtual Agent technology, but rather to highlight how it can align with wider business objectives.

Standing still is going backwards

Synthetix are pioneers of Virtual Agent technology. However, all Virtual Agents are not created equal.

A Virtual Agent should not to be confused with a chatbot. A chatbot is mainly focussed on a single purpose, like providing simple answers in a very linear, single dimensional support. Less scalable and robust than a Virtual Agent, a chatbot might not a great option over the long term, as frequently they lack reliability, analytics, and learning.

The Chief of Facebook Messenger, David Marcus says that 34,000 bots have been created in the name of customer experience, since its launch. However, he acknowledges that many early offerings of chatbots are ‘really bad’.

So, what’s the deal with Virtual Agents?

A semblance of personal service, Natural Language Processing (NLP) – a component of artificial intelligence – a Virtual Agent can drive personalised customer experiences and increase engagement. Combined with a graphical representation, this is a powerful additional contact channel (not a replacement for human interaction). Virtual Agents can raise the online customer service effort bar, offering customers who wish to self-serve answers, in an engaging, appropriate, and conversational automated interaction.

The business case for the Virtual Agent is different to that of a humble, self-service chat-bot. A personalised, goal oriented answer engine, designed specifically, to deliver customer value in both sales and service engagements.

How can a Virtual Agent align with wider business objectives?

KPIs within the customer care usually comprise of reducing complaints, increasing the speed of response, and improving first call resolution. Virtual Agents can help achieve these objectives and more.

Just think about the tasks you could have Virtual Agents do. They can exercise predictive skills, knowing the intent of a question, and therefore predict the next. They could answer multiple questions, without getting annoyed, tired, and even with a sprinkle of humour. They can recognise the basic intent of the question and emulate human intelligence, making them capable of taking on a wide variety of tasks including to ‘decide’ to escalate or to fulfil a request.

Virtual Agents, if deployed in the right manner, can reduce support costs, encourage self-service, increase customer loyalty, and serve as a branding/marketing tool.

Conclusion

There’s a lot of shouting from the rooftops about how AI is the future and a lot of businesses are getting caught up in the politics – AI is killing apps, will take over jobs, change the world.

If Synthetix were in politics, we are convinced that our customers would vote for our seat in Westminster. However, we are fanatical about not just our clients, but we are advocates for the creation of exceptional customer service. In fact, with all this hype, we decided to collaborate with a trusted publication to clarify the subject of Virtual Agents in a very palatable, concise style, without the politics and drama.

Request your free copy Virtual Agents for Dummies of Virtual Agents for Dummies.

Virtual Agents, Chatbots and New Social Media channels

To bot or not event

The Trampery Old Street, a workspace, members club and event venue, located in an iconic location on London’s Old Street played host to our Spring event focused on creating new engagement and revenue generating opportunities through Virtual Agents and new social strategies.

The half day event demonstrated to businesses how they could transform their online customer experience through a compelling omni-channel strategy which included Peter McKean giving exclusive top tips on the effective deployment of Virtual Agents. Expert, Luke Todd from Gumtree shared his insights about the inevitable disruptive impact of social contact channels and how Gumtree overcame and tackles these challenges.

Attendees enjoyed the interactive workshops which helped them to discover, discuss and predict future challenges and successes of effective online customer service delivery.

Lunchtime was spent networking over scrumptious food, in this relaxed environment with access to the speakers and other experts within the industry.

Adam Ashcroft, Marketing Director of Synthetix said “The feedback from those who came along has been fantastic. We are looking forward to our next event as it’s clear that the rapid advances in technology, and Virtual Agents , have even the most seasoned customer experience professionals enjoy the insight and re-education into opportunities to deliver great customer experiences across multiple contact channels.”

Virtual Agents, hype or business genius?

Is this 1995 all over again?

Early adopters of the World Wide Web were primarily university-based scientific departments or physics laboratories. The world only starting paying attention in 1992 when new generations of web browsers joined the Nexus WYSIWYG HTML editor.

Who knew that Clifford Stoll – a famous US astronomer and author – would regret his dismissal of the hype around the internet and its future. Constantly evolving, today, almost 4 Billion people access the web daily. It has become such an integral part of our everyday life, that some would say we can’t live without it.

Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Agents? Bah!

Just like in 1995, this year has seen AI, and in particular Chatbots and Virtual Agents take the crown for creating hype and excitement.

Views on the maturity of this type of technology as shown in Gartner’s Hype Cycle might have many businesses wondering if they should wait to invest or not at all, especially since predictions of Virtual Agent technology’s game-changing potential have been circulating since 1995.

The truth is that text analysis and natural language processing are getting better all the time. The list of queries that can be answered, and tasks resolved without human interaction, is growing.

Automation is not coming, it’s already here.

Back to the future

Self-serving answers when they need assistance is not a new concept anymore, in fact customers expect seamless customer experiences across desktop, mobile and social channels. This is not news to businesses either and most will have incorporated – or are looking to integrate – a powerful intelligent FAQ system into their customer service/experience strategy.

So, what’s the deal with Virtual Agents?

Virtual Agents are not only upping the personalisation stakes. Virtual Agents, when deployed correctly, with a set of specific goals, can generate leads, increase sales, and grow a business in a big way, and this is only the beginning!

The question is, are you a Clifford Stoll or would you like to find out more about all this “hype”?

The campaign for better service

The politics of creating exceptional customer service

Politicians, representatives of the people, aim to serve their country to prosper economically and ideologically.

Team Synthetix had the honour of meeting Sir Allen Haselhurst, our MP on Monday, 13 February. Not really knowing what to expect, he had a calm and approachable manner. He discussed with Synthetix, the challenges faced by many of the UK’s businesses, especially after the volatile events of 2016 which is set to impact greatly on the future of many businesses.

Interested in exploring the online customer service software solutions that Synthetix develops, how it enhances online customer support, and save our customers time and money we used the Utility industry as an example to explain what we do.

He was impressed that nearly half of all the large UK water companies use online customer service technology from Synthetix and that 6 ranked in the top 10 for customer service in 2016-2017.

Collectively this means our utility clients have 28.62 million customers who might need assistance or answers (and that’s just utilities). We are proud to say that many of these customers’ issues will be resolved using Synthetix web self-service, live chat or intelligent web forms, and even when customers do have to speak to an agent, the Synthetix Agent Knowledge-base will assist agents to answer customer queries with confidence, regardless of the channel they use to contact their utility provider.

If Synthetix were in politics – the highest, rung of dignitaries in a country – we are convinced that our portfolio of brands would vote for our seat in Westminster. We are not just fanatical about our customers, but advocates of the creation of exceptional customer service. Imagine a nation full of happy customers – just putting it out there.

We are so proud of what we have achieved in the last 17 years. In fact, apart from the suite of online customer service tools we have developed up until now, we have been trend setters. We were pioneers of Virtual Agents as a concept, which seems strange with the industry finally catching up to the idea.

We have a personal relationship with each of our customers across a wide range of industries, creating cutting-edge online customer service solutions, leaving the politics up to others.